China Cracks Down on Sexting
China’s Henan province threatened cellphone users with jail time and fines if they send unwanted sexual or insulting text messages.
Offenders face five days in detention or a 500 yuan ($73) fine for one such text, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported, while sending three or more erotic messages could land them 10 days plus the fine. Henan follows Liaoning province, which said earlier this year that sexual text messages can factor into sexual-harassment charges.
Two Zhenzhou residents registered mixed reactions. “I’m totally for the rules. It’s uncomfortable to get dirty text messages from male friends, and even more gross when they are from strangers,” Zhang Kai, a clothes trader, told China Daily. “But I’ll take them as jokes and reply if they are from my female friends.”
